Datadog · Real User Monitoring
Datadog RUM set-up: see what real users experience on your web and mobile apps
Datadog Real User Monitoring (RUM) records what happens in your users' browsers and mobile apps: the pages and screens they open, the actions they take, the network requests behind them, and the errors and crashes they meet. It links each slow page or failed action to the backend traces and logs behind it, so teams can fix the cause instead of arguing about it. Interkey, an official Datadog partner, sets up Datadog RUM for organisations in Saudi Arabia, including the privacy settings that keep personal data out of what is recorded. We also supply the Datadog licences and provide technical support.
Published 5 min read
In short
- What RUM records: sessions made of views, actions, resources such as network requests, and errors or crashes.
- Where it runs: browser apps, Android and iOS apps, and cross-platform frameworks such as Flutter and React Native.
- What it measures: Core Web Vitals for browser apps and Mobile Vitals for mobile apps.
- Session Replay: a visual replay of sessions in browsers and in mobile apps; on the web, text and inputs are masked by default.
- How it is billed: per 1,000 sessions; a session ends after 15 minutes of inactivity or 4 hours.
- What Interkey does: Datadog licences, SDK set-up, privacy rules, links to backend traces, dashboards, alerts, a PII review and technical support.
What Datadog RUM shows
Datadog describes RUM as end-to-end visibility into the real-time activity and experience of individual users. In practice, teams use it for four jobs:
| Job | What RUM provides | Typical question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Core Web Vitals, Mobile Vitals, page and screen load times, slow network requests | Why is the payment page slow on mobile networks? |
| Errors and crashes | Error tracking that groups errors, timeouts and crashes, with crash symbolication and deobfuscation | Which release introduced this crash, and how many users hit it? |
| Backend correlation | Backend traces, logs and infrastructure metrics viewed alongside the user's session | Was it the app, the API or the database? |
| Usage and support | The path a user took through the app, and Session Replay for web and mobile sessions | What exactly did this customer see before they called? |
A RUM session can last up to 4 hours and expires after 15 minutes of inactivity. Each session holds the views, actions, resources and errors recorded during it.
RUM or synthetic monitoring?
They answer different questions, and most teams need both. Synthetic monitoring runs scripted tests on a schedule, so it catches a broken journey even at 3 a.m. when no one is using it. RUM records what real users experienced, on their real devices and networks, so it shows problems a script never meets: a slow phone model, a heavy page in one language, an error that only some accounts trigger. Start synthetic tests on the journeys that must never break, and RUM on the apps whose experience you need to measure.
Privacy: what RUM and Session Replay record
RUM runs in your users' browsers and phones, so it sees what they type and what the page shows. Datadog provides the controls; deciding how to use them is part of the set-up.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
mask (default) | Masks all HTML text, user input, images, canvas contents, links and data attributes |
mask-user-input | Masks form fields such as inputs, text areas and checkbox values; other text stays visible |
allow | Records everything unmasked |
hidden (per element) | Hides a specific element completely |
Regardless of the setting, password, email and phone inputs, and fields with card-number autocomplete attributes, are always masked. Datadog states that masked data is not stored on its servers.
Two further points matter for Saudi services:
- URLs and events can carry personal data too. A national ID or mobile number in a URL or an error message is not covered by Session Replay masking. In the browser SDK, the
beforeSendcallback lets you redact such values, or discard events, before they leave the device. - Where the data lands. RUM data is stored on the Datadog site your organisation uses. As of November 2026, Datadog lists no site in the Middle East. Decide what may be recorded before you switch RUM on, and read our Datadog data residency guide.
Interkey offers a telemetry PII masking review: we test your masking and redaction rules against Saudi formats, such as mobile and national ID numbers, and against values that look similar but are not personal data.
Datadog RUM pricing
Datadog prices RUM per 1,000 sessions, per month. List prices as published by Datadog on 2 November 2026, billed annually: RUM Measure $0.15 per 1,000 sessions, priced on full traffic; RUM Investigate $3 per 1,000 sessions, priced on the sessions you retain; and Session Replay $2.50 per 1,000 sessions. Month-to-month and on-demand prices are higher. Check Datadog's price list before you budget, because prices change.
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The model behind this is what Datadog calls RUM without Limits: you ingest all sessions, Datadog computes performance metrics on every ingested session, and retention filters decide which sessions are kept for investigation, for example those with errors or slow pages. Filters are set in the Datadog interface, without code changes. Getting the filters right is the main lever on the RUM bill.
How Interkey sets up Datadog RUM
-
Choose apps and journeys.
Which web and mobile apps matter, and which journeys in them: sign-in, payment, application or booking.
-
Install the SDKs.
Browser and mobile SDKs, tagged with the same service, environment and version names as your backend, so RUM and APM line up.
-
Set privacy rules.
Session Replay privacy level, per-element overrides, and
beforeSendredaction for URLs and error messages, agreed with your data protection officer. -
Connect to the backend.
Link RUM sessions to backend traces and logs, so a slow action leads straight to the service behind it.
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Set retention and budgets.
Retention filters that keep the sessions worth investigating, sized against expected session volume.
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Dashboards and alerts.
Core Web Vitals, error rates and crash rates per release, with alerts routed to the team that owns the app.
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Operate or hand over.
Tuning after each release, or a documented handover to your team.
Questions buyers ask
Does Datadog RUM work for mobile apps?
Yes. Datadog lists SDKs for Android and iOS and for cross-platform frameworks including Flutter and React Native, with Mobile Vitals and crash reporting.
Is Session Replay available on mobile?
Yes. Datadog documents Mobile Session Replay for native Android and iOS apps, Kotlin Multiplatform, React Native and Flutter, and its RUM documentation lists Flutter Session Replay as Preview. We confirm current support and privacy settings for your platforms during scoping.
Will RUM slow down our app?
The SDK adds code to every page or screen. We install it the way Datadog documents, compare page performance before and after, and agree the sampling settings with your team.
Can RUM record personal data?
It can, if left unconfigured. In the browser, Session Replay masks text and inputs by default, sensitive inputs are always masked, and beforeSend rules redact URLs and events. We review those rules with you before go-live.
Do we need Datadog APM as well?
Not to start. RUM works on its own, but linking it to backend traces is what turns "the page is slow" into "this service is slow".
Who runs it after go-live?
Your team, after handover and with Interkey's technical support, or Interkey under a written managed-services scope.
Next
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Next step
Plan a RUM set-up
Tell us which web and mobile apps you want to measure, roughly how many sessions they see each month, and whether Datadog already runs in your estate. We can quote the RUM licences, the set-up and support together.
Or directly
+966-11-2180999 [email protected]Tawuniya Towers, North Tower, 7th Floor, King Fahad Highway, Olaya, P.O. Box 56835, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia